Coalgate FIR: Shocked India Inc bats for Birla

Castigating the functioning of the central investigative agencies conducting the probe into the coal blocks allocation scam, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh has come out in strong support of Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, the latest corporate to be named a co-accused in the case.

[caption id=“attachment_117448” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] He’s clean as a whistle, says Deepak Parekh[/caption]

The actions of the investigative agencies will only serve to scare business out of India, he reportedly said.

A report in the Times of India said he described Birla as “clean as a whistle”. Industries are looking for avenues outside the country because of these developments, he said.

“Is the government aware of what is happening at the ground level and the way regulatory bodies are behaving? Whether it is the CBI or the EOW, there are far bigger fish in the water," he is reported to have said.

An Economic Times report quoted Parekh as saying innocent people are the ones who are harassed.

“It is ludicrous that an FIR has been filed against Kumar Mangalam. He is straight as an arrow. Our system is such that biggest fraudsters go scot-free. I can give a many examples to prove this point. The innocent people are the ones who are harassed," the report quoted him as saying.

The ET report also quoted Piramal Enterprises Chairman Ajay Piramal as saying Birla is one of the country’s most respected businessmen and that the image of India as a good good investment destination can take a severe beating from such actions.

Mirroring concerns that the CBI may not have evidence to see these cases through courts, former Infosys board member TV Mohandas Pai said going after anybody who received a coal block would only adversely affect investments and industry.

Until now, apart from Birla, prominent industrialists to have been named in the coal scam cases include Lok Sabha MP Naveen Jindal, senior Congressman Vijay Darda and RS Rungta.

On Tuesday, the CBI’s 14th first information report (FIR) in the coal block allocation scam named Birla as an accused along with former coal secretary P C Parekh, for alleged criminal conspiracy and abuse of official position in the allocation of the Talabira II coal block in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district, some time in 2005. The block was to have been reserved for allocation to public-sector companies only, the CBOI said.